The most toxic household products.
BURLINGAME, CALIF. – Of course, we all hope to find toxic chemicals in cleaning products and pesticides. However, it is so easy to imagine that toxins may be in our bed or, worse, in the crib for our baby.
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Unfortunately, harmful chemicals are not just found in foam mattresses or pads nursing, but also in many everyday products such as deodorants, air fresheners, plastic bottles and some pots and pans coated with Teflon. What is more: it is almost impossible to remove all these toxins from our homes.
Even environmental scientists find it easier to release of toxins their homes. Heather Stapleton, assistant professor of environmental chemistry at Duke University, says that in the foam many toxic chemicals: they are flame retardant products associated with neurological and developmental problems in children.
“Many children’s products containing these chemicals, such as rocking chairs or changing tables,” says Stapleton. I have a lab, so I could analyze many products, but recently discovered that the mattress they used my son 10 months in school flame retardants contained child. Then I went to buy an organic mattress. ”
Experts believe that children are the ones most exposed to toxic chemicals, because they come into contact with a lot of dust in their games, and toxins easily adhere to dust and dirt.
“We found remarkably high levels of these chemicals in the dust in the interior,” says Stapleton. Even in our food are found in small quantities. ”
Ironically, the use of flame retardant foam products is because of California legislation, the 1980s, which was created to protect children. Following this legislation, many manufacturers began to add flame retardants in its products.
The flame retardant chemicals most commonly used until recently were called polybrominated diphenyl ethers, or PBDEs. PBDEs have been found not only in children but also in young mothers’ milk. Since 2004, U.S. manufacturers have been phasing out PBDEs, due to increasingly strong evidence of their toxicity.
However, it continues to implement the legislation manufacturers have simply substituted PBDEs by other chemicals. Their replacements are slightly better, says Stapleton, who is conducting a survey of 100 baby products. In its investigation, Stapleton has found that alternative flame retardants can be as toxic as PBDEs.
Flame retardants are also found in many electronic products: pulverized in printed circuit boards and plastic casings. The most widely used group of retardants in electronics is that of the brominated (BFR), which has been linked with reduced brain development and learning problems, behavior and memory in children.
Casey Harrell, coordinator of the Greenpeace campaign on electronics, says his organization has studied 100 households and found BFRs in all of them at different levels. Harrell states that electronic devices emit small amounts of BFR, which then accumulate dust.
“Many mothers come to us to ask how they can remove these substances from their homes immediately,” Harrell account. We tell them they have it very difficult. This substance is very sharp and not eliminated with a single sweep. ”
BFRs are not the only chemicals that are found in electronic devices. Phthalates are used in wire and cable wires to soften the plastic around them, to give them greater flexibility. Phthalates have been linked to an altered functioning of the endocrine system responsible for regulating growth and development of children. The European Union banned the use of phthalates in children’s toys in 2005.
One way to “detoxify our homes” is to buy better. It is important to read labels. In general, the fewer chemicals a product contains, the better. Sonya Lunder, senior analyst at the nonprofit organization Environmental Working Group, said: “We encourage people to fix and take time to see what products you use.”
Stapleton and Harrell also advise consumers to act outside their homes. “You can do things at home and I congratulate the people doing it,” says Harrell. But we live in a bubble. We must put pressure on those manufacturers that are reducing the use of chemicals to stop using them altogether and asked to make laws to prohibit and eliminate them. ”
Source:
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